Lucien's POV
Moments ago, I was just sitting there, enduring the same dull formalities I had endured for centuries. I didn't even bother paying attention anymore, how could I, when every feast, every ritual, every bow and speech felt like a replay of the last? It was all the same to me. Boring. Predictable. Pointless.
All I wanted was to eat. Eat and go to whatever luxury chamber they had already prepared for me, where these dozen women would already be delivered to me, like packages of flesh. I didn't care how they looked, they were all the same. Tall, short, it didn't matter. All soft skin, weak voices, trembling hands. All objects. That's what they were to me now. Objects for me to use, to bury my endless hunger and lust into until it burned out for a while. Not that any of them could ever truly satisfy me. My curse made that impossible. Their bodies quenched nothing but the sharp edge of my torment, like water poured onto burning coals that only hissed before flaring back to life.
So yes, moments ago, I was simply enduring, trapped in my eternal cycle of hunger and rage. And now.… now, she was in my arms.
It happened too fast, so fast that even I, the beast who could shred armies in the blink of an eye, had to question my senses.
At first, I thought I had smelled wrong. The moment the tray of meat neared me, a foul stench pierced the air, and I wrinkled my nose. Human. The disgusting whiff of fragile human flesh invaded me, and rage instantly bloomed inside me
Who dared?
Who among these worthless human mongrels thought themselves bold enough, or suicidal enough, to walk so close to me?
I turned, already preparing to rip apart the fool, already imagining their screams echoing through the feast. And then.… I saw her.
For a heartbeat, I thought it was a trick. A delusion conjured by my cursed mind. But no. She was real. Her. The face that struck me harder than any blade, harder than the Goddess's curse itself.
And for the first time in a century, my heart…. skipped.
I felt it. A lurch in my chest that made me almost stagger. Something I had forgotten even existed within me. My heart, this dead, useless thing that had long been nothing but a stone pounding blood into cursed veins.... actually faltered.
Her eyes met mine for the briefest instant, wide and terrified, and yet…. luminous.
I don't remember moving, but suddenly she was in my arms. Fragile. Small. Trembling like prey caught in the claws of a predator. My claws.
Her scent still lingered in my nose, burning, vile, unmistakably human. And yet… my hands did not crush her fragile throat. They trembled instead. Trembled. When had they last done that?
The entire hall seemed to vanish. The chatter, the music, the ritualistic nonsense, it all dissolved into nothing. All I could hear was the pounding of blood in my ears, the faint tremor of her breath. All I could feel was the heat of her body pressed against mine, and something inside me, something buried deep under layers of rage and bloodlust, clawed its way to the surface.
Confusion.
Why her? Why now?
I swallowed. My voice came out softer than I intended, almost reverent.
"Aurelia?"
The name slipped past my lips like a prayer, like a sin I had long been denied
The girl stiffened in my arms, her wide eyes staring at me as though I were death itself, shich, in truth, I am.
She trembled, her lips parted, but no music came from them, no song of recognition. Only a stutter, weak and trembling
"M-my… my name is Evelyn, s-sir…"
Evelyn? Not Aurelia?
Her body shivered violently, her fear almost tangible. I could hear the frantic rhythm of her heart, so fragile, so human. Not Aurelia. Not her. But… gods, she looked like her. Exactly like her.
"How dare you put your stinking body to touch the Demon Wolf!!!!"
The screech of the Luna's voice shattered my haze, snapping me back to the hall, back to the reality of dozens of eyes watching. Their horrified gazes burned into me. Murmurs rippled. Whispers. The Demon Wolf, holding a human?
My jaw clenched. With a sudden jerk, I released the girl. She staggered, her knees threatening to collapse, but she caught herself. She didn't fall
But her reprieve was short lived. A stocky woman, reeking of bitterness and authority, stormed forward and yanked Evelyn back by the arm so roughly I almost heard her bone snap. The girl stumbled, yelping faintly.
"How dare you, you dirty little disgusting imbecile! How dare you even breathe near the Demon Wolf, let alone touch him!" The woman spat venom, each word dripping with contempt.
My eyes narrowed, but before I could move, another voice thundered.
"My Lord Lucien," the Alpha boomed, his chair screeching back as he stood. "Forgive this blunder! Forgive this.… filth! We all know your hatred for humans. We all know what it means to break your rules."
He turned, motioning with a flick of his hand. Instantly, two of his warriors advanced, eyes glinting, hungry for blood.
"She will pay with her life!" the Alpha declared. His voice rang with false loyalty, with cowardice masked as zeal. He wanted to prove himself. To show that he respected me. Because he needed me.
"Behead her!" He ordered and everyone nodded in agreement
She deserves it, they said.
She dared to touch the demon wolf, she should be gutted, they said.
The warriors seized her by both arms, their claws biting into her skin. She gasped, struggling weakly, her eyes wide with terror as they dragged her forward.
Something in me…. snapped.
I should have felt nothing. Humans were meat, pests, insignificant stains beneath my boots. I had crushed hundreds, thousands, without blinking. This should have pleased me. But as I looked at her, struggling, trembling, those eyes shining with unshed tears, I recognize those eyes all too well, and seeing themselves teary..... it made the beast within me go mad.
No.
The sound that ripped from my chest was not human. A snarl, low and lethal, thundered through the hall. My power flared, a pressure wave that made the air itself tremble. The two warriors froze mid step, their claws digging deeper into Evelyn's flesh, drawing blood. Her blood.
Red clouded my vision. The hall reeked of fear now, fear of me.
My voice was cold, venomous, but steady
"No one….. touches her."
The warriors faltered. The Alpha paled, stammering, "B..but my Lord, she is human.... she has tainted you with her filth, we must....
Before the Alpha's words had even finished echoing in the hall, I moved.
The warriors hadn't even had time to tighten their grips on her arms when I was upon them. My claws tore through flesh like parchment. The first one screamed, though it was cut short as I ripped his abdomen wide open, his organs spilling wetly onto the polished floor. The stench of blood filled the air as his intestines unraveled at my feet, steaming against the cold stone.
The second warrior didn't even get to gasp. My hand pierced straight through his chest, ribs cracking, blood spraying in a hot mist across my face, across her pale skin. When I pulled back, I wasn't empty handed, I held his heart, still twitching weakly, cradled in my palm like some grotesque prize. His body collapsed in a heap, ripped and broken, pooling in crimson blood that spread quickly across the floor.
And she.... Aurelia.... she stood trapped between their remains. Her trembling frame was painted with streaks of blood, droplets clinging to her lashes, her lips. She looked too fragile to even breathe, frozen in shock, yet somehow still standing.
I let the silence stretch, the only sound was the wet drip of blood hitting stone.
Slowly, deliberately, I turned to face them all, Alpha, Luna, warriors, pack members
"Touch her," I warned, my tone was a predator's snarl, low and venomous, "and I will make sure you meet a fate.… far worse than death."
With that, I let the ruined heart slip from my grasp, the thick splatter as it struck the floor echoing through the hall.